Hungarian shadow dancers win Britain's Got Talent

A troupe of Hungarian shadow dancers won the television show Britain's Got Talent on Saturday -- outshining a slew of homegrown performers and leaving viewers wondering if the programme's name could do with a change. The eight-member dance group, named Attraction, beat ten British acts to win the public vote on the primetime ITV show and walked away from the final with a £250,000 ($380,000, 290,000 euro) prize.

They had wowed viewers with a series of dance routines performed behind a screen, twisting their bodies to form silhouettes in the shape of everything from Queen Elizabeth II to an elephant. The Budapest-based group were hot favourites to win -- an irony that was not lost on the British press, with The Sun's front-page headline on Saturday reading: "Er, Hungary's got talent".

Simon Cowell, the music mogul who is one of four judges on the panel, said of the result: "It just shows that this country welcomes people from all over the world and they obviously loved this act."Attraction's leader Zoltan Scuzs described the win as "amazing", adding: "Thank you to all the British public."

The troupe paid tribute to Britain in their final performance, using the red, white and blue flag as their backdrop and contorting themselves into the shape of the British isles, Winston Churchill and the queen.

Along with their £250,000 prize, they won a place on the stage at this year's Royal Variety Performance, an annual gala evening attended on alternate years by the 87-year-old monarch or her heir, Prince Charles. Attraction have previously competed in both the Hungarian and German equivalents of Britain's Got Talent.